The movie Jamie Lee Curtis calls a “horrible, terrible film”
A true legend and eternal star of the wild game they call Hollywood, Jamie Lee Curtis has unravelled like an increasingly beautiful tapestry of acting brilliance, possessing a charm and dedication to her craft that has established her position as one of the big movie industry players of her generation.
From her remarkable performance as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s Halloween to the nuanced appearances in the likes of Trading Places and Knives Out, Curtis has proven time and time again that she’s capable of giving everything to a role, regardless of character, genre or narrative, rightfully making her a highly-sought-after performer in the world of film.
However, not every movie Curtis has worked on has been a resounding success or an enjoyable experience. During an interview with Lifetime, Curtis noted the time she had to leave the United States to travel to England to shoot the film Fierce Creatures, calling it a “horrible, terrible film”, one that clearly does not live happily in her memory.
Fierce Creatures is the 1997 comedy movie directed by Fred Schepisi and Robert Young that brought together Curtis and John Cleese following their success in the 1988 heist comedy film A Fish Called Wanda. Where their first collaboration was well-received, their second was not as widely celebrated, although there are a handful of funny moments.
The film is set in a struggling zoo and focuses on Cleese’s character, the barmy zoo owner Rollo Lee, who tries to bring better financial fortune to his business by bringing in a selection of fierce animals, learning the hard way that soft and cute ones are more profitable. Curtis plays a charming, witty animal rights activist called Willa Weston.
While the film was certainly not half as good as A Fish Called Wanda, Cleese was still in relatively good form, and narratively, it explores the dichotomy between the need for successful commerce and a responsibility to trade ethically. A sense of slapstick humour, typical of Cleese, attempts to elevate the movie but never quite succeeds.
Curtis was not the only star of Fierce Creatures to criticise it, though, as Cleese also expressed regret at having made it in the first place. When asked by Michael Winner about the things he would do differently given the chance, the actor replied, “I wouldn’t have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger, and I wouldn’t have made Fierce Creatures.”
Check out the trailer for the film below.
